Wednesday, December 13, 2017

What's the Story?:From Goodreads.com: "Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he's promised today will be the best day ever.But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really? "

My Two Cents:

"Best Day Ever" is the story of Paul and Mia. From the outside, their lives look pretty perfect. Paul is a successful ad exec who prides himself on his mind and body. Mia is the perfect wife and mother. The story opens when Paul is taking Mia to their lovely lake house for what promises to be a weekend to remember.

This is a thriller with an interesting character study on top of it. You can see where the story is going (the ending didn't really surprise me). Paul is fascinating. The story is told from his point of view, which worked really, really well here. Paul only thinks about himself. If he does something nice for someone else in the book, it is only because it has something in it for him as well. He is absolutely terrible to everyone in the book, including those that he loves. He is cold and sees everyone else as flat characters waiting to do his bidding.

The writing and the character study of Paul took this book far for me even if the plot was a little bit predictable. The author does a good job of dropping little hints through Paul as to what kind of person he really is and where things are going. Paul definitely gave me the heebie jeebies throughout the book, which I loved. I love when books can make me feel strongly, positively or negatively! If you like characters that will frighten you, this is a good choice.

Monday, December 11, 2017

What's the Story?:From Goodreads.com: "A charming, glamourous
love story set at Claridge's in London during the magical week before
Christmas starring a sweet NYC baker and the Cooking Channel Producer
who could change her life.

It’s a week before Christmas and
Louisa Graham is working twelve hour shifts at a bakery on Manhattan's
Lower East Side. When a young cooking show assistant comes in from the
rain and begs to buy all the cinnamon rolls on her tray, she doesn’t
know what to do. Louisa is just the baker, and they aren't hers to sell.
But the show burned the rolls they were supposed to film that day, so
she agrees.

The next morning, Louisa finds out that her cinnamon
rolls were a hit, but the star of the show was allergic, and the whole
crew is supposed to leave for London that afternoon. They want Louisa to
step in for their annual Christmas Eve Dinner TV special at Claridge's.
It’s a great opportunity, and Digby Bunting, Louisa’s famous baking
idol, will be there. Even if he does seem more interested in her than
her food."

My Two Cents:

"Christmas in London" is a warm story about food and romance in the coziest season of the year. A chance break lands fledgling baker Louisa on a huge cooking show in London. She is whisked away to London, a city that seems to be made for the holiday season. Louisa finds herself in the lap of luxury and with a potential love match in Noah, the man who discovers her baking talent and lands her the show. There is also Kate, the television producer who may rekindle an old flame in London.

This is a confection of a story; exactly the kind of story I'm looking for in the cozy season upon us now. I really liked both of the romances in the book. Louisa and Noah get off on the wrong foot and then the wrong foot again and then the wrong foot again as they try to figure out each other. Kate and Trevor are old flames with a bunch of misunderstandings between them themselves. I was a little more interested in the history between them a little more. There were some swoon-worthy moments!

The major draw for me to this book was the setting. London is one of my very favorite cities in the world and this book made me want to visit London during the Christmas season. The characters hit all of the major sites. Harrod's at Christmas sounds wonderful. Some of the characters get to go to a royal reception at Buckingham Palace - swoon!

The writing was okay. There were a few sticky parts where the narrative got hung up with saying too much and not showing enough. Overall, this was a sweet read.

From Goodreads.com: "It is 1692 and the
Colony of Maryland is still adapting to the consequences of Coode’s
Rebellion some years previously. Religious tolerance in the colony is
now a thing of the past, but safe in their home, Alex and Matthew Graham
have no reason to suspect they will become embroiled in the ongoing
religious conflicts—until one of their sons betrays their friend Carlos
Muñoz to the authorities.

Matthew Graham does not leave his
friends to rot—not even if they’re papist priests—so soon enough most of
the Graham family is involved in a rescue attempt, desperate to save
Carlos from a sentence that may well kill him.

Meanwhile, in
London little Rachel is going through hell. In a matter of months she
loses everything, even her surname, as apparently her father is not
Master Cooke but one Jacob Graham. Not that her paternity matters when
her entire life implodes.

Will Alex and Matthew be able to help their unknown grandchild? More importantly, will Rachel want their help?"

My Two Cents:

"There is Always a Tomorrow" is yet another installation to Belfrage's The Graham Saga. It is the ninth book in the series but largely works as a standalone. I caveat with "largely" for just one major reason that I will detail below. It's the late 1600s in the colony of Maryland and religion seems to be a major factor throughout the colonies. Religious tolerance does not seem to be so easy to find these days.

This book is a family saga. While it focuses on one couple: Matthew and Alex, our attention is split with the whole family. This book is truly a family saga and it is the relationships between the family members that really drives the action. While the Graham family has mostly seemed to be very happy, all of that happiness is threatened by one of the main couple's (Matthew and Alex) sons who has turned out to be so serious about his religion that he seems to forget about everything and everyone else, even when it threatens to upend his whole life. It was interesting to see why he would do this and more importantly, how his family copes (or does not cope in some cases).

I was especially interested in the setting. I live in Maryland but much further north and closer to Washington, D.C. than the characters did. It was so interesting to see what my state was once like. I really liked all of the historical detail the author infuses into the book about this.

It can be dangerous territory to jump into the middle of a series but for this book, it works pretty well. We do catch on that Alex is not from the time period and instead somehow travels back in time to this time period but it is never explained why and seems to be taken for granted by the other characters. That being said, this isn't a huge distraction but instead left me wanting to go back and read the other books.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Title: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in CrisisAuthor: J.D. VanceFormat: HardcoverPublisher: HarperPublish Date: June 26, 2018Source: Library

What's the Story?:From Goodreads.com: "From a former Marine
and Yale Law School Graduate, a poignant account of growing up in a poor
Appalachian town, that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles
of America’s white working class. Part memoir, part historical and
social analysis, J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy is a fascinating consideration of class, culture, and the American dream.

Vance’s
grandparents were “dirt poor and in love.” They got married and moved
north from Kentucky to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful
poverty around them. Their grandchild (the author) graduated from Yale
Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving upward
mobility for their family. But Vance cautions that is only the short
version. The slightly longer version is that his grandparents, aunt,
uncle, and mother struggled to varying degrees with the demands of their
new middle class life and they, and Vance himself, still carry around
the demons of their chaotic family history.

Delving into his own
personal story and drawing on a wide array of sociological studies,
Vance takes us deep into working class life in the Appalachian region.
This demographic of our country has been slowly disintegrating over
forty years, and Vance provides a searching and clear-eyed attempt to
understand when and how “hillbillies” lost faith in any hope of upward
mobility, and in opportunities to come."

My Two Cents:

"Hillbilly Elegy" is a
memoir of sorts by J.D. Vance. It talks about his childhood and his
family in Appalachia where the term "hillbilly" seems to be a name to
take pride in. I will admit that I had heard a ton about this book in
the aftermath of the election in order to help "explain" some of Trump's
base. There are many different factors but this book definitely
explains some of those factors and is fascinating in that regard. Vance
grew up in Ohio and Kentucky in areas marred by economic and often
social despair so he if very familiar with the subject.

The best
books for me are the ones that force you to chew things over and to
think long after you close the book. This is one of those books for me.
It makes you go from understanding to trying to mull over fixes to being
bewildered about what you're reading. Even after reading this, there is
a confusing juxtaposition present. On one hand, this group will push
away outsiders without a second glance but drop everything to help
others in the community if needed. They want help but claim to be
against receiving anything called a hand out. It's a complicated issue
and anecdotally, Vance seeks to give us a little insight into how this
happens.

Many in the community that he grew up in will not have
the chances that Vance had. Vance joined the military and went to school
and was able to start a good, solid career through having support but
also a lot of luck. The differences between his personal story against
the stories of many of the people in his family and friends that he grew
up with are especially stark.

This book did leave me with the
question of what do we do to overcome the obstacles in this book. While I
feel like I understand a little bit better, I still have a lot of
questions. For me, it's not a question of how you get people to feel
differently and to therefore vote differently but it's more of a
question as to how you fix the ills that the people in the book face. By
attacking those problems, you start to change mindsets but this book
really doesn't address that. This book is very much a good picture of a
place that was unfamiliar to me.

Monday, December 4, 2017

Feast your eyes upon the new covers for Voice of the Falconer and Fortune's Fool, books #2 and #3 in Blixt's Star-Cross'd series!
Based on the plays of William Shakespeare, the poetry of Dante, and the history of Italy, the Star-Cross'd Series is a tale of wars won, friendships lost, and conspiracies both mortal and stellar, an epic journey into the birth of the Renaissance that recalls the best of Bernard Cornwell and Dorothy Dunnett.

Voice Of The Falconer (Star-Cross'd #2) by David Blixt

Publication Date: July 6, 2010

St. Martin's Press

eBook & Paperback; 496 Pages

Italy, 1325. Eight years after the tumultuous events of THE MASTER OF VERONA, Pietro Alaghieri is living as an exile in Ravenna, enduring the loss of his famous father while secretly raising the bastard heir to Verona's prince, Cangrande della Scala.
But when word of Cangrande's death reaches him, Pietro must race back to Verona to prevent young Cesco's rivals from usurping his rightful place. With the tentative peace of Italy at stake, not to mention their lives, Pietro must act swiftly to protect them all. But young Cesco is determined not to be anyone's pawn. Willful and brilliant, he defies even the stars. And far behind the scenes is a mastermind pulling the strings, one who stands to lose - or gain - the most.
Born from Shakespeare's Italian plays, in this novel we meet for the first time Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, the Nurse, as well as revisit Montague and Capulet, Petruchio and Kate, and the money-lending Shylock. From Ravenna to Verona, Mantua to Venice, this novel explores the danger, deceit, and deviltry of early Renaissance Italy, and the terrible choices one must make just to stay alive.

"For anyone who has not yet read one or more of David's novels, you are about to hit the literary lottery. Yes, he is that good. In his hands, history comes to bright, blazing life." -Sharon Kay Penman

"Dante's Italy and the internecine, blood-feuding struggle of the dominant families of the northern city states. This story of corruption and the quest for power is as compelling as Mario Puzo's Godfather and as thrilling as any of Rafael Sabatini's historical adventures." -Peter Tremayne

Fortune's Fool (Star-Cross'd #3) by David Blixt

Publication Date: April 23, 2012

Sordelet Ink

eBook & Paperback; 576 Pages

Italy, 1326. While the brilliant and wily Cesco is schooled in his new duties at the hand of a hard master, Pietro Alaghieri travels to Avignon, current seat of the Papacy, to fight his excommunication and plead for Cesco's legitimacy. He doesn't know an old foe has been waiting to ruin Pietro's life and seize control of Verona for himself.
Back in Verona, separated from everyone he trusts, Cesco must confront his ambitious cousin, a mysterious young killer, and the Holy Roman Emperor himself. A harrowing series of adventures reveal a secret long hidden, one that threatens Cesco's only chance for true happiness.
Inspired by Shakespeare, Dante, and Petrarch, full of Renaissance intrigue and passion, this third novel in Blixt's acclaimed Star-Cross'd series reflects the heights of drama, exploring the capricious whims of lady Fortune, who has her favorites - and her fools.

"This is one of the most exciting, and satisfying, reads that I have immersed myself in for a long time. David Blixt is a gem of a writer." -Helen Hollick

The 10th Anniversary Edition of The Master of Verona is now available in eBook, Paperback, & Audiobook!

About the Author

David Blixt‘s work is consistently described as “intricate,” “taut,” and “breathtaking.” A writer of Historical Fiction, his novels span the early Roman Empire (the COLOSSUS series, his play EVE OF IDES) to early Renaissance Italy (the STAR-CROSS’D series) up through the Elizabethan era (his delightful espionage comedy HER MAJESTY’S WILL, starring Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe as inept spies). His novels combine a love of the theatre with a deep respect for the quirks and passions of history.
Living in Chicago with his wife and two children, he describes himself as “actor, author, father, husband. In reverse order.”
For more information, please visit David Blixt's website. You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

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I have always loved to read. I decided to get into book blogging to share the books I love with other fellow readers! For any questions, comments, concerns or just to chat, shoot me an email at abookishaffair(at)gmail(dot)com ! I usually respond to emails quickly!
All opinions on this blog are my own, regardless of where I got the book!